How common are the Antique Chain Less Bicycles Who made them in quantity 3spd

[grey3speedfrmeuro]

How common are the Antique Chain Less Bicycles Who made them in quantity 3spd.

I think for me because of my arthritis setting in some of my joints, cant ride a Big Wheeler bike.

However, would love to try a chain-less safety bike from the 1880's on in the USA or Brittian(will consider other countries too)?

Who made them in any quantity enough to find available with semi-plentiful parts to fix them?

Can one Climb a Hill with one? How hard is it? What grade of hill?

 

[grey3speedfrmeuro]

Also, are there any really good books on how to restore one, and maintain one?

Where would one find solid or phneumatic tires? Can you retro fit them relace hubs with a different sized rim with common tire sizes?

 

[grey3speedfrmeuro]

Post Script other questions on chain less bikes

Also, are there any really good books on how to restore one, and maintain one?

Where would one find solid or phneumatic tires? Can you retro fit them relace hubs with a different sized rim with common tire sizes?

 

[Bikephreak]

There are basically no parts for these bikes that I have found. An occasional 1/2 a bike for sale. Pneumatic single tube tires are the norm on wooden rims. The rear hub is a dedicated shaft drive part (I don't know how to attach the final gear to a different hub). Spokes are a problem for some hubs. As far as hills... In 1902, the Touricyclette shaft drive two speed won the silver medal in the Technical Trials of the Touring Club of France... This event had the riders climb Col de le Tourmalet (7,262'). These events (1901-1905) helped the development of gearing for bicycles. The primary innovations came from cyclotourists, not racing cyclists. Racers were not able to use multiple geared bike in the TdF until 1937...

 

[grey3speedfrmeuro]

Thanks for your message about Chain Less Bicycles.

Thanks for your message about Chain Less Bicycles.


Very interesting read. 20 plus years ago I used to do Brimfield Flea Market in the spring, summer and fall. Once and a while if you could get there before dawn and wait for them to open the gates I would ocasionally see really early bikes for sale by the Anqtique dealers that would roll in from around the country. Thanks for your info...

 

[Andrew Gorman]

Chainless bikes are not common, but not really that rare. Expensive when new and pretty distinctive the seem to have been saved when other bikes would have been thrown away. The first chainless bikes in the US showed up in the 1890's, not the 1880's, And Columbia made them up to 1920. I bought an OK cushion frame a couple of years ago, and two years later found a parts bike, so the situation is not impossible. A Wheelman sells plastic gear covers which are a usually missing part for Columbias. The Pedaling History Museum had a good reprint pamphlet on the care and feeding of a Columbia chainless, but the museum has closed and it is not on their current website:
http://www.pedalinghistory.com
Some Columbias had ball end spokes, which are difficult to find or make, others can easily be re-laced into modern rims. A good source of information is at:
http://www.firstflightbikes.com/ShopNew/Bike_Histories/Columbia.htm
And a great chainless restoration and history page is at:
http://www.fusionstudios.com/hill-climber/Album/hill-climber bicycle_story.html

 

[pelletman]

League made the first one in Hartford CT and I think they started in 1896. Pope bought their patent and sold the first Columbia Chainless, their model 50 and 59 in 1898. Just about all the majors made them, Pope, Victor, Gormully, Orient, Crescent, Spalding, and numerous others. Parts are impossible to find unless you find a donor bike. The only part I know of reproduced is the Columbia gear cover. Columbia made them up to 1922.

 

[grey3speedfrmeuro]

6 August 2010

Thank you very much for the lesson, as I am eager to learn. Can you recommend any decent reference books on these makers?

 

[Andrew Gorman]

I can't think of any modern reference books, but I've had good luck going to google books and searching for a brand name and "chainless bicycle". Lots of interesting turn of the century cycling magazines and ads turn up. There was a nice Spalding that sold on eBay a few weeks ago.

 

[Andrew Gorman]

Here's a good 1897 overview- see chapter 2, "The Chaninless Wheel"-
http://books.google.com/books?id=1CRyfR7JclIC&pg=PA10&dq=%22chainless++bicycle%22+columbia&hl=en&ei=7tZaTICvJ8L58AaH0-2AAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CE8Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22chainless%20%20bicycle%22%20columbia&f=false